The Regulars Of HM Armed Forces

Every national leadership has but one goal in this world. This is to make sure that the general interest and safety of its constituents is met at all times. That is why the importance of having competent armed forces should be given thorough and high emphasis. Let’s take a look at how the UK oversees the security of its land areas via its military force.

The British Army is the armed force division of the country that is responsible for monitoring all levels of land security and safety. It was born after the joining of two kingdoms in 1707 namely that of England and Scotland and was collectively known as the Kingdom of Great Britain. After the union of the two kingdoms, the newly formed British Army incorporated existing Regiments from both England and Scotland and was duly administered by the War Office from London. Ever since 1963 the joint regiments were managed by the Ministry of Defense.

The composition of the British Army is around 112,100 regular soldiers which consist of a trained strength of 100,200 and a trained requirement of 102,200. This also includes 3,600 Gurkhas and 34,000 Territorial Army leading to a grand total of about 146,000 soldiers as of June 2009. Since the conception of the reservist Territorial Army in 1908, the full-time component of the British Army has been regarded to as the Regular Army. There is continuous deployment of this army all over the globe’s war plagued areas as part of the country’s contribution to both the United Nations Peacekeeping forces and the expeditionary forces. Countries that are part of this deployment include the likes of Germany, Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Cyprus.

It is noticeable that compared to other armed force services like the Royal Marines, the Royal Air Force, and the Royal Navy, the British Army has no inclusion of Royal in its title. The reason behind this is of historical character meaning that during the past the British Armies were actually composed of individually established corps and regiments. However, at present a lot of the regiments and corps have been given the Royal prefix and has been occupied by members of the Royal Family having senior positions.

There has been a widely recognized nickname for a British soldier and this is termed as Tommy Atkins or it can be shortened to Tommy. The origin of such tag can be attributed to a specimen army form wherein the detail of a certain Private Thomas Atkins of No 6 Company, 23rd Regiment of Foot was filled in and was circulated by the orders of Adjutant-General Sir Harry Calvert to all units in 1815. Current members of the army in UK are now commonly called as Toms or Tom while the British press calls the soldiers as squaddies. In the British Army magazine identified as the Soldier there is a regular cartoon strip known as Tom which depicts the daily endeavors of a British soldier.

The armed forces of each nation follow a strict system of values and policies. This is their guiding principle on a daily basis as they diligently attend to their national and global obligations.